There is a place called the United Village, where people are precious and are loved in return and where acceptance and generosity of heart and spirit are abundant. Their souls are woven tapestries of love lost and love gotten and given, of places they have understood or imagined, and where memories never fade. Time does not stand still nor does it delay for them. Airplanes and trains and buses transport these people on trips they never daydreamed possible. And yet the superlative way to get there-to this city, country, square-is in your poetic place of imagination. Family, friends, children, God, caring, tending, and giving and sharing are the most valuable components to their happiness. Joy for them launches when a spark of light enters their hearts and minds. They type it down, communicate about it, and then try and put it together in a united form such as this little book of poetry. This is their philosophy. -Hans and Marguerite

Marguerite Tonnesen was born in Queens, New York, in 1964. She always loved music and dancing but, for some reason, always seemed to daydream out the window when it came to her studies. She took up writing in 2006, after her mother passed. She comes from a large loving family and currently lives in Port Washington, Long Island, New York, with her beloved husband. Hans De Cuyper was born in Leuven, Belgium, in 1972. Language, writing, and music are, and were, his main interests for a long time. Dutch is his native language. He considers the school of life as the most important form of learning. He's been writing from a young age, especially in Dutch. This is his first publication and their first publication of collected poetry together.